Device for recording deviation from the vertical in wells



March 5, 1929. ca. E. NEVILL DEVICE FOR RECORDING DEVIATION FROM THEVERTICAL IN WELLS Filed March 21, 1927 4 0 1 5 6 \V- \K J .I K m N n II V w w 1.. 5 a? I 4% 2 0 ,2 2 m O 5 7 Ililll Fig, 6

IHIIIIIIII ll llllllll [N V EN TOR By W M 4 TTORNEY Patented Mar. 5, 1929.

,PATENB times.

earn n. itnvmn, of Eousron, TEXAS;

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Applicationfiled se. 21, 1927. Serial No. 177,030. j

My invention relates to a means foruse in wells, mines and the like for indicatin the deviation of the well from the vertlca the amount of such d viation and the posi tion thereof in the we 1..

..In the drilling of wells and particularly deep wells for oil, gas, sulphur and the like, it has been found practically impossible to drill a well which is exactly vertical, in fact the deviation of the well from the vertical has been found to be so great in some cases as to amount to many feet. This deviation 1 may be in any directionand the direction may vary at different points in the'well. It will be obvious that in some cases where the deviation amounts to from tento fifty feet, as may frequently be the case, the bottom of the well maybe across the'line between adjacent properties so that a producing well may be takingoil from beneath.

property not belonging to the operator.,

It is an object of'my invention to provide a device which may be lowered into the well and produce an automatic record of the deviation. of the well and its direction-at all any deviation from the vertical andv the amount of such deviation so that the bottom of the well may be accurately located.

The construction of the instrument contemplates the provision of means to orient and operate the device so that therecord,

maybe accurate and reliable.

The inventive idea of my invention may be carried out in various ways, and in the drawing accompanying the specification .a preferred form of apparatus is shown, it being understood, however, that various changes and substitutions of equivalents may be made Without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing, Fig.1 illustrates a top plan view of the invention, certain parts being in horizontal section for greater clearness. Fig. 2' is a front elevation of the device. Fig. 3 is an end elevation theerof, certain parts being broken away. Fig. 4 is a side view showing a well pipe in broken.

'1 in Fig. 4.

section with a housing for my invention therein. Fig. 5 1s a front elevation partly in'v'ertlcal section, showing a second embodi 'mentof the invention; and Fig. 6 is a view snnilar'to Fig. 4 and illustrating a slightly different means for operating andguiding the device. Like numerals offreferenc. are

employed todesignate like parts in allthe views.

' In carrying out myinventioml contemplate provlding a recording mechanism which may be. housed-within a casing, preferably of cylindricaloutline, as shown at This casing is of smaller external diameter than is the interior of the casing 2, in which'it isused. Said casing is provided with a swivelconnection, indicated at 3, to a cable 4 .or other means for lowering'the device into .the well. The casing 1 may be provided on opposite sides thereofwith bowed arms 5 of resilient mate; rial, tending to bear firmly against the side walls of the casing and to guide the housing downwardly within thewell in such manner that it-may not rotate in its passage through the we'll casing. It is contemplated that a motor maybe provided withinthe housing 1" for operatmg my device and in such case,

electrical conductmg wires 6 Y may extend from the housingto the surface for connection with some source of electricity.

Within the housing, I contemplate mount mg in such position as to be easily operated from any type of motor which may be employed a frame work 7, so. formed as to I support the operative parts. of my device. Upon this frame 7 is mounted for rotation a shaft '8' which has thereon a pulley 9 or other similar means for operatively connecting the same with the motor. on one end of the shaft 8 is secured a beveled gear rotation to a gear '11 adjacent thereto, said gear being mounted upon a shaft 12 rotatable in the;fra'me and at an angle to the shaft 8, as clearly seenin Fig. 1.

10 adapted to mesh with-and communicate The shaft 8 has mounted upon its inner end a friction disc 13, the forward face of which'is adapted to frictionally engage with a friction disc 14, keyed slidably to a sleeve 15 by means ofthe key 16 thereon.

The sleeve'15 is of suitable length and has a threadedengagement with a shaft 17, up-

on which itisscrewed;g.'1he shaft 17 is mounted atone end 18 within the frame work of the device and has a beveled gear 19 thereon operatively connected with a beveled gear 20, upon the shaft 12, previously described. The rotation of the shaft 12 will, therefore, communicate rotation to the shaft 17 and the sleeve 15 thereon. The gear 14 has thereon at one side a hub 21 which has a circumferential groove 22 therein to receive a finger 23, mounted upon the arm 24 of a pendulum suspended at 26 to an arm 27 upon the frame work at a point at one side 0 the hub 21 and in such position that the finger 23 on said pendulum will fit evenly within the groove 22 of the hub of the friction disc 14. A pendulum bob 28 hangs below the shaft 17 and the weight thereof and its position relative to the vertical will thus control the position of the friction disc. 14

.the well.

relative to the operating disc 13.

I also form upon the pendulum arm 24 a downwardly inclined arm 29, the lower end of which supports a marker 30, which is preferably a pen having ink thereon and adapted to impart a recording line upon a strip of recording paper 31. Said record engages with a drum 32 mounted upon a shaft 33 within the frame and having on one end thereof a gear 34 meshing with an idle gear 35, which is in turn operatively engaged with a gear 36 upon the shaft 17.

The sleeve 15'has formed upon one end thereof a guide collar 38 which has a groove 39 therein adapted to receive an arm 40 upon .a collar41, slidably along a squared stub shaft 42, supported rigidly at one end within the frame of'the instrument and extending in spaced relation parallel .with the shaft 17. The movement of the sleeve 15- on the shaft 17 will, therefore, move with it the arm 40, the collar 41 and a marking instrument 43, which is extended laterally from said collar to bear against a recording sheet 44 upon a drum 45 adjacent said marker.

The drum 45 is secured upon a shaft 46 mounted in the frame and having at one end thereof a worm gear 47, meshing with a similar gear 48 upon the shaft 8.

In the operation of the instrument as thus constructed, the device will be set on a horizontal level within the housing 1 and held in a properly oriented position within the well casing by means of arms 5 or any other preferred means for preventing relative rotation of the housing and the instrument within the well casing as it is lowered into The shaft 8connected with the motor will be rotated at a uniformspeed and it is contemplated that the housing 1 containing the instrument will be lowered also at a uniform speed so that the position of the housing within the well-will be known at any time.

The original position of the friction disc 14 relative to the disc 13 will be such that the speed imparted to the disc 14 will be the same as the speed of movement imparted thereto through the shaft 12 and the threaded shaft 17. There will, therefore, be no difference in the rate of rotation of the sleeve 15 and the shaft 17 upon which it is mounted. If thereafter the well deviates from the vertical so as to cause the frame work of the instrument to be tipped to a position out of the horizontal, the pendulum 28 will move to one side or the other, depending upon the direction in which deviation occurs and this change in the direction of the well hole will be recorded by the pen 30 upon the recording sheet 31 which, as will be obvious, is a constantly. moving.

As a further result of the.pendulum, the friction disc 14 will be moved toward or away from the center of the operating disc 13, thus decreasing or increasing its rate ofrotation relative to that of the shaft 17. This willcausea differential movement between the gear 14 and the shaft 17, which will cause the sleeve 15 to be screwed to one or the other direction along the shaft 17 It is contemplated that -the threaded connection between the sleeve 15 and its supporting shaft will be an exceedingly fine one, so that the amount of lateral movement of the sleeve upon .the shaft, due to difference in rotation will be but slight. This movement of the sleeve 16 will be communicated to the pen or marker 43 which-bears upon the sheet 44 moving upon the drum 45. This line showing the extent of deviation from the vertical will be marked upon the sheet 44 in a continuous graph which will furnish a visual record 'of the path of the drill in the drilling of the well.

As previously stated, the inventive idea may be carried out in various ways, the idea being to record the amount and direction of .the deviation of the-well from the vertical position which it should occupy. In Fig.

he movement of 5 I have shown a shaft 49 mounted within a supporting frame work, said shaft having a pulley 50 through which motion may be communicated to the said shaft. On one end of said shaft is a frusto conical shaped pulley 51, placed adjacent a similar pulley 52 upon a parallel adjacent shaft 53, also journaled for rotation within the framef On the inner end of the sleeve 55 is mounted a radial gear disc 56, the outer margin of which is formed with a toothed flange 57 thereon adapted to mesh with a seriesrotatable with tile shaft and having gear teeth '60 thereon, meshing with the pinions Said pinions are mounted at spaced points upon a dished casing 61, one end of which is formed into a hub 62, rotatable upon the shaft .53. The pinions 58- are rotatable upon shafts 63 on-the inner margin of the casing 61, said casing being rotatable upon the shaft. The hub 62 has radial gear:

teeth 64 thereon which engage with the teeth upon a larger crown gear 65, mounted upon an adjacent shaft 66. Said shaft 66 is threaded throughout its length and has mounted thereon a supporting block 67 slidable along an adjacent supporting shaft 68 and moved on said-shaft by means of its threaded connection with the shaft 66. r A marking point or pen 69 is formed on said block 67 and is adapted to bear against a recording sheet 70 upon a. drum 71, mounted upon the shaft 72, operatively connected through a gear 7 3 and adjacent gear 74 with the shaft 53.

The shaft 53 has on one end thereof a gear 75, meshing with a gear 76 upon the shaft 49. lhe two gears 7 5 and 7 6 are of the same diameter, thus adapting the two shafts 49 and 53 to rotate at the same speed. The belt 54: maybemoved upon the pulleys 51 and 52 from its central neutral point in either direction by means of a pendulin 7'7, supported upon an arm in the frame at 78, whereby the pendulum will be positioned at a point at one side of the pulleys 5i and 52. An arm 79 on the pendulum arm is formed with a recess or notch therein to engage the belt, 54, so that a deviation of the position of the pendulum relative to the vertical normal position will move the belt one way or the other to vary the relative speeds of rotation of the shaft 49 and the sleeve 55 upon which the pulley .52 is mounted. This change of speed will be communicated through thege'ar 56 to the pinions 58 and the gear er. It will be seen that as the shaft 53 is rotating at the same speed as the shaft 49, therewill be a differential movement of the gear 64, due to the change of speed imparted to the gear 56 relative to the gear 60. This will carry the housing 61 and the gear 62 about the shaft 58 in a direotiomdepending upon the direction of deviation of the pendulum from the vertical.- This will cause the rotation of the gear-65 and theshaft 66 and move the pen 69 upon the recording sheet 76 of the drum. Thus making a record of the direction and the amount of deviation of the device from the vertical.

This instrument may be mounted within the casing 1, shown in Fig. 6, and if desired,

the rotation of the pulley 50 and the shaft 49 may beactuated through a pulley 80 mounted upon a shaft 81 in a supporting plate 82 atthe upper end of the housing This pulley furnishes a means of suspending the housing within the well casing by means of a cable 83 extended to the surface. obvious that if one end of the cable 83 is held stationary and the device is lowered through unreeling the cable at the other side of the pulley, the speed of rotation of the said pulley will depend upon the speed at which the device is lowered. The rotation of the pulley may be imparted to a shaft 84 extending into the casing and having operative connection with the pulleys 50 by means of gears 85 on the shaft Ell-and the gear 86 on v the shaft 84. It is contemplated that if the device is lowered with a constant and regulated speed, the mechanism within the housing-will also be operated at the same uniform speed so that the position of the apparatus within the well at the time the deviation is recorded maybe calculated in an obvious manner.

The housing 1 may be guided within the casing to, control itsorientation within the well casing by means of the forming of lateral guides 87 upon the inner side of the casing between which the spring arms'5 may fit, thus assuring the operator that the cas ing 1 remains in its same position of orientation within the well throughout its travel in the well casing. It is obvious, of course, that-Various other means may be provided for preventing rotation of the housing 1 1 within the well the examples shown here being only indicative of thefact that no one particular form of device for this purpose is contemplated.

in the operation of this device in the man ner described, it will be seen that in the de vice disclosed in Figs. l te 43; inclusive, two separate records will be obtained-that upon the sheet 31 and also that upon the sheet l i. These two recordsshould vary simultane It is ously with any variation in the vertical travel of the device and also indicate the amount of deviation from the vertical. Each sheet will record the direction of deviation. Sheet 31 will record the change and the angular deviation, while sheet will furnish a graph indicating the path of the bit formed in drilling the well bore. This will'be a graphic record and as the sheet upon which the record is made may be graduated and markedto scale,.the exact amount of deviation may be readily seen from the record at all times.

As will be obvious, thereshould be two readings at'least obtained in a well. With the first reading the instrument andv the housing 1 should be placed in a position at right angles to the position of the second instrument. in this waythe two graphs showing the deviation from the vertical will be in planes at right angles to each other, so that the deviation in either of these planes may be seen and recorded.

The advantages of this construction lie in the fact that the records obtained are continuous and the amount of deviation at any point may be read directly from the record Without necessity for computingthe change mathematically as might be the case in previous formsof construction.

The further advantages of my invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art without further description.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the character described, a frame, means to suspend said frame in a normally horizontal position, means to lower and raise said frame in a well bore, means to orient said frame in said Well, a rotating shaft on said frame, a recording drum driven from said shaft, a screw shaft operatively connected with said first named shaft to rotate therewith at the same speed, a sleeve threaded on said screw shaft, a driving connection between said first named shaft and said sleeve, a marker bearing on said drum and controlled by said sleeve, and a pendulum on said frame controlling the driving connection for said sleeve,

whereby a change in the horizontal position of said frame will rotate said sleeve and varythe position of said sleeve and marker.

2. A. device of the character described, in-

- eluding a housing adapted to fit within a well casing, means to guide said housing in said casing, a normally horizontal frame in said housing, a pendulum supported on sa d frame, a rotatable shaft in said frame, a

record sheet moved by said shaft, a second shaft at rightangles thereto connected for operation at the same speed as said rotatable shaft, a sleeve screwed on said second shaft, a friction disc keyed slidably on said sleeve, a friction disc on said rotatable shaft engaging said first named disc, a marker on said sleeve engaging said record sheet, and means controlled by said pendulum to regulate the movement ofsaid marker.

shaft at rightsangles thereto connected. for

operation at the same speed as said rotatable shaft, a sleeve screwed on said second shaft, a friction disc keyed slidably on said sleeve, a friction disc on said rotatable shaft engaging said first named disc, a marker on said sleeve engaging said record sheet, and means on said pendulum engaging said friction disc on said sleeve and move the same to regulate the movement of said marker.

4. A device of the character described, including a housing adapted to fit within a well casing, means to guide said housing in said casing, a normally horizontal frame in said housing, a pendulum supported on said frame, a rotatable shaft in said frame, a record-sheet moved by said shaft, a second shaft at right angles thereto connected for operation at the same speed as said rotatable shaft, a-sleeve screwed on said second shaft,

a friction discrkeyed slidably on said sleeve,

a friction disc on said rotatable shaft engaging said first nameddisc, a marker on said sleeve engaging said record sheet, and a finger on said pendulum adapted to move said first named disc to control the movement of said'marker.

5. In a device of the character described, a housing, a normally horizontal frame therein, an operating shaft, a threaded shaft at right angles thereto adapted to be rotated at the same speed as said operating shaft, a screw sleeve on said threaded shaft, a marker operated by said sleeve, a frictional gear connection between said operating shaft and said sleeve, a pendulum, means on said pendulum -engaging said frictional gear and controlling saidmarker, and a movable record sheet against which said marker is adapted to contact.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my GALE E. NEVILL. 

